Archaeology Notes

Event ID 660023

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/660023

NH33SE 6 3830 3030.

(NH 3830 3030) Stone Circle {NR}

OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

This Clava-type passage grave was excavated by Professor Piggot, during the summer of 1952. His excavation has now been filled in.

Before excavation the cairn measured about 60' in diameter, and 8' in height, and was composed, for the most part, of water-worn stones. A large, flat, cup-marked stone, now thought to have been the cap-stone of the chamber lay on top.

Excavation revealed traces of a crouched inhumation burial beneath the flagged floor of the chamber. There were no grave-goods.

Of the 11 stones forming the outer ring round the cairn 4 are modern additions and 2 have been reset in recent times. The stones range from 5' - 9' in height. An area of cobbling, apparently an original feature, was revealed between two of the stones on the NW. One of the stones on the NW is said to bear cup-marks on its outer-facing side, but these are now unconvincing.

The only artifact found during excavation, was a bone pin, calcined and eroded, which is now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS, EO 956).

S Piggott 1956; A S Henshall 1963

A stone on the NW side of the outer circle has cup marks on the outer face. Another stone, which lay on the W side of the cairn until 1830, and is now on the top, also has cup marks.

A Mitchell 1875

This cairn, surrounded by a fence, is maintained by the MOW. It is as described above.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (N K B) 4 December 1964